EvolutionIvan Reitman

A meteor has collided with the earth and with it brings the ingredients to create an entire life force in the form of odd little alien creatures. Upon catching wind of the grounded meteor, two community college teachers (David Duchovny and Orlando Jones) set out to unravel the mystery of the rapidly multiplying organisms, in hopes of winning the Nobel Prize and thus buying their tickets out of town and on the bigger and better things. The bumbling pair quickly discover that the cells within the meteor are multiplying at an alarming rate and a species of freaky animals are evolving in mere minutes. Predictably it's then up to our heroes to save the entire planet from extinction.

Director Ivan Reitman is probably best known for directing "Ghostbusters," and this movie has the same feel to it. There's not incredibly gifted comedic actors such as Bill Murray in "Evolution" (although Dan Aykroyd makes an appearance as the governor) but there's enough talent and some-what interesting characters to keep the audience interested. David Duchovny has proven in the past that he can pull off a real deadpan style of humour, and Orlando Jones is finally rewarded with a decent role after being cast in two of the year's worst movies ("Double Take" and "Say It Isn't So"). Academy Award-nominated actress Julianna Moore's talent is wasted in the role of Allison, a cold-hearted epidemiologist that, of course, dislikes Duchovny's character of Ira at first but soon begins to warm up as their lives become more and more in danger.

Seeing as "Evolution" is a movie about aliens there are loads of special effects for everyone to gawk at. But with the potential to create some amazingly wonderful, creative species, Reitman settles for reptile-based conceptions straight out of "Jurassic Park." Then we're introduced to some ape-like spawns which come across as ridiculous and could very well be used for phony home videos of a Bigfoot sighting.

Still there are some humorous scenes and dialogue exchanges offered, but not at a consistent rate. Some of the best scenes are the unsuspecting public discovering a deadly species in their homes or at their local department store, and "Evolution" could have benefited from more of that formula. Instead there's a mishmash of a love story, action, comedy, drama, and enough characters for two movies. There's enough entertaining scenes to keep you watching, but weak spots and an ending that falls flat make a potentially great film mediocre.